Jets looking to flip O'Connell to Broncos?

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on September 6, 2009, 4:41 PM EDT

We mentioned earlier today the possibility that the Pats didn’t try to trade quarterback Kevin O’Connell before cutting him because New England coach Bill Belichick wanted to slide the 2008 third-rounder through to the Chiefs, whose G.M. is former Patriots V.P. of player personnel Scott Pioli.

The fact that, you know, Pioli didn’t submit a waiver claim for O’Connell sort of blew that theory to hell.

But the Broncos, coached by former Pats offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, did make a claim for O’Connell. And even if Belichick wasn’t trying to help McDaniels out, there’s a belief that the trade of O’Connell from the Lions to the Jets might be a precursor to renewed trade talks between the Jets and the Broncos for receiver Brandon Marshall.

The notion has been floated by Mike Klis of the Denver Post. Though Klis points out that a source says the Broncos have no intention of trading Marshall, who rejoined the team today after a nine-day suspension for conduct detrimental to the team, the Jets seem to have even less of a need for O’Connell than the Lions did.

UPDATE: As a reader pointed out, the fact that the Jets made a waiver claim for O’Connell undermines this theory, since Denver has waiver priority over the Jets.

That’s kind of a stretch, O’Connell isn’t really going to put much of a dent into the material needed to get BM. If the Broncos wanted O’Connell they could have ever so slightly exceeded the offer to Detroit and got him that way. So whatever the VALUE of the chip is that the Jets gave to DET, is simply the VALUE that they will get later on from DEN, but there’s no room to get a premium value in return from DEN, otherwise DEN would have just dealt with DET to get him.
Your logic doesn’t really hold much water, I think you would have to digress into how you think this would fit into such a theory.

VegasBronco says:Sep 6, 2009 4:59 PM

What would Denver do with Kevin O’Connell?
Seems like Denver has their QB for 2010 and beyond in TB2 (Tom Brandstater).

mustbechris says:Sep 6, 2009 4:59 PM

why would o’connell be a deal maker for a guy like brandon marshall? he’s just kevin o’connell. the jets’ singular need for o’connell is that he was a patriot, the patriots obviously didn’t want the jets to get him, the jets got him, and he knows the patriots offense. end of story.
furthermore, since josh mcdaniels thinks he’s bill belichick, wouldn’t it make sense to not expect the broncos to be a trading partner with the jets? they like poaching players from each other (ala kevin o’connell, chris baker, etc.), not trading with each other. big difference.

picayune says:Sep 6, 2009 5:01 PM

You got it all wrong again.
The JETS are flipping Tannenbaum to the Broncos in exchange for McDaniels straight up. The JETS have seen enough to want McDaniels to be THEIR general manager. O’Connell is just a throw-in.
With Tannenbaum replacing McDaniels as Denver head coach, he’ll obviously want to bring O’Connell along to tutor Orton and Sims. Capiche?

PFTiswhatitis says:Sep 6, 2009 5:06 PM

if that is why the Jets traded for O’Connell then good luck to them.

lomaxgr says:Sep 6, 2009 5:08 PM

The finer details have been missed out here.
When O’Connell was waived, the JETS also put a claim in for him – not just Denver. Now do you think the Jets did that so they could late trade him to Denver? Obviously not, because if Denver had of wanted him they would of put a claim in themselves and been awarded O’Connell ahead of the Jets.
Also, Denver only wanted O’Connell for their final preseason game to throw 6 or 7 passes in relief of Tom Brandstater, because O’Connell has at least a decent knowledge of McDaniels’ system whereas Ingle Martin (who threw those 6 passes) had a weeks worth. McDaniels invested a 5th round pick (to move up for him) and a 6th round pick (to take him) in Brandstater, and he has improved dramatically as the preseason went on, so I see no reason to bother trading for O’Connell.

Larry David says:Sep 6, 2009 5:16 PM

McDaniels flew out to San Diego St. and worked out O’connell before last years draft. I’m guessing he was a big reason the Pats drafted him, so it seems to me he would like to have him in Denver.

CABroncoFan says:Sep 6, 2009 5:19 PM

yeah Florio…I think you were interested in keeping Brandon Marshall/NY Football news atop your page.
then again, the Broncos may just send next year’s 1st and Marshall to the Jets for O’Connell and a few of those chicks who flash at halftime.
Can we please sign Jeff Garcia?!?! He’s got to have an axe to grind with the Raiders and he’s a huge improvement over Orton. He’d be perfect in our dink & dunk offense and may even help to get Marshall back into the fold.
If you would have told me 3 years ago I would be asking for the Broncos to sign Jeff Garcia, I probably never would have stopped smoking the pot.

TSE says:Sep 6, 2009 5:20 PM

Actually Florio your update is illogical and in error.
The fact that DEN didn’t make a waiver claim is meaningless as they, like me, could foresee a virtual guarantee that a team like the Lions would exercise it, or if not, one of the MANY other teams before them. If you do the math it is actually an astronomical improbability that all of those teams would pass on taking the free look prior to the 75 to 53 man cut day.
Therefore it wouldn’t be worth 1 minute to fill out the form knowing that it would be impossible to get him for free, so that does NOT undermine your theory. However my earlier comment does, that’s what you need to rehash in order to support your theory and make a good story out of it.

Dan says:Sep 6, 2009 5:23 PM

Come on florio, even you can figure this one out. The Jets want information from Oconnell for the game vs the Patriots week 2.
If the Patriots wanted to give Oconnell to the broncos they could have traded him to Denver for a stiff.

TSE says:Sep 6, 2009 5:43 PM

There’s actually a very plausible way to create a story out of this, these comments are closing the book a little early. How about giving me a shot as a writer for the site and showing you how I would spin this so that it generates an intriguing thought to consider? I already have the logic mapped out, and you won’t be able to find a writer that has more creative sports logic than myself.

Jimmy Shnoogen says:Sep 6, 2009 5:48 PM

“But the Broncos, coached by former Pats offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, did make a claim for O’Connell. ”
“UPDATE: As a reader pointed out, the fact that the Jets made a waiver claim for O’Connell undermines this theory, since Denver has waiver priority over the Jets.”
This confuses me Florio. What does the Jets making a waiver claim for O’Connell have to do with the theory of flipping him to the Broncos?
In order of priority, here are the teams that put in a claim on O’Connell:
Detroit, Cleveland, Denver, and New York.
At the time of placing a claim, how could the Jets know for sure that the Broncos were going to as well? Couldn’t it have been that the Jets were making the claim on O’Connell then with the intention of moving him to the Broncos, had they not put in a claim themselves? Or is there a rule that says that you can’t trade a player that you’ve gotten off of waivers? Oh wait, there can’t be because the Lions just traded him.
So how could the theory of flipping him to the Broncos be undermined? Why WOULDN’T the trades explore that possibility, knowing now for fact that the Broncos were in fact interested in acquiring him off of waivers?
I’m sure O’Connell is going to be treated like a POW. He’ll be brought in and debriefed thoroughly. And at that point, once his purpose has been served, we’ll see where he goes. It would NOT surprise me to see an offer with him packaged with another player, thats a tier lower than David Harris, along with a lower draft pick for Brandon Marshall and a lower draft pick.

empty13 says:Sep 6, 2009 6:43 PM

pow?
try indentured servant.

wxwax says:Sep 6, 2009 6:57 PM

Slow day in Florioland, eh?
Surely Michael Vick’s had another cocktail by now. Why don’t you hunt down that story, newshound?

a57se says:Sep 6, 2009 7:01 PM

Did any one of you ever stop to consider that maybe, just maybe, the Jets just liked O’Connell enough to pick him up? There were rumors at last years draft that the Jets had O’Connell targeted and thats why the Pats jumped up and grabbed him in the third round….he was considered a 5th round project by most draft experts.
If the Jets offer anyone to Denver, it would probably be K. Clemens…..but I don’t think the Jets are gonna get Marshall.

TSE says:Sep 6, 2009 7:53 PM

Yes but the obvious already is the obvious and that’s no fun to digress into. It’s more interesting to cover the outside of the box angles for possible stories or analysis on a what-if scenario so that you can actually read about something here first before somebody else figures out the angle that the Jets MAY be playing.
Granted it’s always more likely that the conventional explanation is the correct one, but what do you need the internet for to understand the obvious. Dissecting issues and brainstorming leads to a greater experience overall in the discussion and eduction of sports related topics.

foxnews=domination says:Sep 6, 2009 8:27 PM

It figures that you’d get the story wrong in the first place Florio, NBC can’t get s*** right either. Keep pluggin MSLSD. You two are a great fit…HaHaHa…

stlchiefs says:Sep 6, 2009 10:01 PM

You people need to lay off on the Florio-Vick thing. Either read the story and respond to the story or move on. Why bash Florio all the time? Could you do any better? Most of the you making comments in here can’t even spell.

CentralNJGuy says:Sep 7, 2009 12:56 AM

My guess is O’connell is here to lead the scout team for Game #2: Jets @ Pat’s. He knows the Patriots offense and can aid Rex and team in preparation.
If he shows something, perhaps he gets to stay the season, but my guess is he is gone after week 2.
Rich